Chapter 39: Prelude to Another Disaster

It was just the same. There was no notable changes, but Yua knew which gun was which. Hours after Nuidini gave him a stronger spirit form he learned of using a spiritual version of his Scarlet gun even though he was in the material world. He kept on swapping it while on his hand, hoping to find a difference. He felt Radien sit next to him, and he looked at the angel next to him with just a greeting smile.

They were at the usual meeting room with Justine in The Halcyon again that night, hoping to get a good reward from Justine, or Leona, whoever was to reward them. Even though Mary caught them not in the store at the start of their shifts, she pretty much had no power to stop him from going to the club after their shift. It was Wednesday night, and that was the fourth night he had not gone home early in a row; of course, Mary was more than worried at that point.

"What are you doing, Yua?" The angel hummed, wondering why Yua kept on staring at his Scarlet gun. "Is there something amiss with it?"

"No, I'm just trying to see if there are changes between a spirit and a material Scarlet gun. They look totally the same to me..." Yua frowned as he kept on doing it again.

"From your perspective, yes. There are no changes." Radien reached out to hold the gun and gently turned it for them to see the right face. "To me, I see that there's a small blue bead on its barrel, as the weapon enters its state as a weapon of despair."

"A blue bead on its spirit form, huh." Yua brought the gun to his face. "Why can't I see it?"

The angel hummed again, pondering at the same question. "It must have something to do with your vision, Yua. Your eyes can see through both realms at the same time. There must a possibility that you cannot see the spirit hiding behind a material body. Just as how Bona Ciccia was able to hide from you."

"That's bothersome." Yua sighed, dispersing the gun before leaning back against the chair and putting his hands behind his head. "Where is Justine? We've been waiting for a while."

One of Justine's handmaidens came with a tray with two glasses of iced tea. She set the glasses on the table before the two before tucking the tray under her forearms. "The lady was attending to another matters at the moment. She wished to send her apologies for the wait." She then went out of the room again.

It did not take another five minutes before Justine and Leona arrived with their usual entourage and some men with metal suit cases standing at the back. Yua and Radien noticed them, but they paid more attention to Justine who was clearly frustrated, despite the normal look on her face.

"You've came. Thank you for pacifying The Veil, Yua Atsky." The lady tried to smile, but it fell faster than it came. "I assumed you're here for your reward?"

"Yeah, if you have any." The clerk brought his hands down. "What's with the unease? Did something happen?"

"It's normally not your business, but since you're a quasi angel who was willing to help me deal with The Veil, I might as well give you a little warning." Justine sighed and massaged her forehead. "There's total chaos within the covens these days. There was a news that the Black Sphere had found a great black witch once again, and that very person just started a ruckus in Hundredth Stone this morning. There were even amateur videos of some sort of a chase between the witch and the Aviary coven." She cleared her distressed face. "This witch is picking fights with other covens already, and once the truce gets breached, demons will be all over Banterton.

"A city like this one is a hot spot of witchcraft because of its natural affinity to the spiritual realm. That's why most covens want to have at least peace in ruling their respective areas." Justine huffed with a glare. "But that witch..."

"Hey, Aviary started it! All I did was to get my little sister that they kidnapped." Yua laughed out. He then scratched the back of his head. "I can't kill witches. I was forced to lure them somewhere away from normal people."

Justine's eyes widened and soon glared, unsure of believing the claims of the quasi angel before her. Sure, he did showed interest in infiltrating the Black Sphere and becoming a fake witch, but getting the spotlight was not something a spy would do. Then again, she just sighed aloud, hoping that the former Orsetti knows what he was doing after all.

"You. Are. Unbelievable." The club owner shook her head, playing along if ever it was a joke. She gestured to the men behind the two. "I don't deal anything next to red magic items. Like I said before, the divine was the worse ones to handle. All I can give you are basic items any witch should have. They don't rely on your witchcraft prowess so you should be able to use them." She had three of the cases opened and presented to him. "I hope these three items are worth your effort in suppressing the demon activity inside The Veil. Leona made them specially for you for some reasons."

Leona got up and took over in presenting the items. "Yua! You know that witches are still material in nature, right? So their auxiliaries are the same. That being said, it meant they would have to carry it everywhere they go. However, you are not material in nature so I thought of upgrading these for you." She picked up the packet of papers like what Kayda used before. "This is the barrier cards. You would have to spread them around to activate the barrier. You need to use ten or more of these for full effects."

She gave the packet to Yua, which he received. Instead of remaining on his hand, the packet dissolve into his skin. The clerk made a curious gasp, earning a giggle from the ghost girl.

"Yes, Yua. I turned the items into their spiritual forms. You would be able to conjure them like your weapon of despair, but they come in limited amounts. It's like having an invisible bag of weapons inside you." The ghost continued to chuckle as she fetched the next item. "These are smoke bombs. They are normal smoke bombs, but they jam a witch's censor so you can escape if you need to. It will also distract demons from finding you temporarily." The same thing happened when she handed Yua the bombs.

She then picked up the last item. "These are portable hex cloths. Some witches who were too weak to activate a hex on their own, use this to do the job for them." Leona unfolded one of the cloths, and markings started showing on it. "All you have to do is to place a belonging of the person in here to hex them. Then again, this comes with no demons, unless you magically have a familiar..."

Yua received the last of the items, whistling as he called forth the packet using his right hand, only to disperse it and produced the cloth. "I'm starting to think you're not just a ghost at this rate. You're too powerful." He looked at her with a meaningful glint in his eyes, dispersing the cloth. "I met another ghost in Rooverville who was able to open The Veil to others like what you do. Only that she was a black witch. Say, were you a black witch before?"

"I have no reason to answer you, Yua." Leona only grinned at him. She then went back to her aunt's side to write on a piece of paper next to Justine. "I hope you enjoy playing black witch, Yua Atsky."

Justine glanced at the paper, and then smiled at the man. "It seemed that Leona had given you your rewards. Is there anything else you want from me?"

Yua hummed and stroked at his chin before grinning at her. "I saw guns of your design earlier, Justine. Guns that enables non-witches to wield magic bullets to hit demons." He noticed her twitch. "I was hoping you could do me a favor and make a gun that would stun them at least. As pitiful as it sounds, I can't kill witches- not because I can't beat them, mind you- so maybe I could have something that would stun them. The bombs would work as distraction, but I need something that lasts for minutes."

"I'm sorry, but the only things who could disable a witch's movement are death, crippling their material bodies, and light magic." Justine shook her head with closed eyes. "I don't think I can help you with it." She reached for the remaining unopened suit case on the table. "How about you just buy this gun off my hands and have some angel modify it for you?" She flipped the case to face him, showing him the gun. "I thought you would like to have it back."

The cat bear gasped as he saw the gun she was referring to before him. He reached for it and took it off the case to take a closer look. He ran his hands on its crystal finish, which gave the blue color a shining effect. He pushed the cylinder out and inspected the holes for the bullets. He pushed it back in and clicked the hammer to make sure it was functional. He aimed at the side, testing the sight. He then laughed out as he placed it back in its case. "Selling me back my own gun? How did that even get here?"

The dealer smiled and flipped the case so she could hold the gun herself. "The Winter Onyx, a S&W .500 magnum with a customized casing of blue and a crystal finish. Owned by the deadliest of Orsetti, a gun that has been said to claim over thousands of lives in its years of service." She placed it back. "This one fetched a good price in the arms market due to its last owner's reputation, but were later passed from one buyer to another. Everyone who ever bought and used the gun were reported to be driven by an unknown force to kill themselves in less than a week. This gun had killed eight of its owners before it landed on my desk three months ago. Since the news proliferated, no one wanted the gun anymore."

Yua then stared at it before turning to Radien, whispering to the angel's ear. "Hey, do you think we can take it? You have the money to get a premium card, right?"

Radien returned Yua's gaze before looking at the gun again. He would glare at it, but he chose to bring his gaze at dealer's face. "Is it possible to bill it on the same account connected to the premium card?"

"Hm, yes, but it feels like you're not the owner of the account yourself." Justine leaned back on her seat, wearing her intimidating face by then. "If you tell me who pays for your antics, I might consider exempting you from the cash only policy when it comes to the arms."

"It was... from an old employer. I managed to reach her and have an arrangement to use an account under her name." The angel bowed a little. "I have her full consent of using it, but I cannot ask her to see you in person."

"The angelkind had been in the material world for millennia, and some of us had managed to connect to humans in such a way that we would belong among them. These angels had taken on human forms and a human way of living, earning this currency that has the ability to poison minds." Radien took a deep breath. "Due to its nature, our kind became adamant in using it more than what seemed to be basic commodity to humans. Every earning soon belonged to a reserve which my employer had access to, and which she let me use under her jurisdiction."

Justine could not help but to call crap on both men's stance. However, they seemed to be not lying due to the nature of the jobs they claimed to have, and the accounts that support the existence of those jobs. The dealer soon hummed and slid the case towards Yua. "I'll be collecting in three days. Tell your employer that you are sorry for being such a big expender of this poisonous currency as you call it." She then smiled at them. "Pleasure doing business with you."

It took no longer before Yua decided to go home, their business only taking as long as Yua could sparingly drink the iced tea served to them. The clocks had not yet hit midnight, so it was quite an improvement from their other late night outs. Yua ditched the case back in the club, only hiding the gun inside his cotton jacket.

"Your previous employer was a girl?" Yua suddenly started all of a sudden on their way home.

"She chose to be a female human. Adoring the freedom of keeping the hair long, and having these salon parlors to keep it from deteriorating." Radien made a small smile.

"I don't think you mentioned about her once." The cat bear hummed as if teasing the other. "Don't want to talk about her?"

"She... was the one who ordered me to stop watching over you when Valeriya Atsky died." The angel hanged his head away from Yua's sight. "She was also the Dominion who locked me out of Heaven. She only let me use the reserve because Nuidini said so." He chuckled. "When I met with her, I still received a lecture about my disobedience and craving for chaos."

Yua was caught off guard. He then just chuckled darkly. "Well, guess you don't really want to talk about her then."

Radien then turned to the cat bear, erasing his grim expression. "The Winter Onyx is not usable against the witches, Yua. Did you ask for it because it had sentimental value to you?"

"Not really. I even think it got cursed because of me." Yua brought the gun out and raised it against the dimming post light. "She said it was driving people to commit suicide." He glared at it, before grinning at Radien. "Do you remember what Nuidini said about my hands?" He received a curious look from the angel. "He said my left hand will have the power to destroy the connection of the spirit to the impure through a blue gun. I think it means I would be able to do something to those witches if I have a blue gun. The only blue gun that comes to my mind is the Winter Onyx.

"And to think that he referred to the blue gun as a weapon of false redemption and guilt." The quasi angel chuckled, holstering the gun back inside his jacket pocket. "When I held this gun, I think of how I could get rid of the fact that I killed the woman that I loved the most, who took care of me. I think of how much of an ingrate I was, pulling the trigger against her chest." He took a deep breath and made a bitter grin towards Radien. "My guilt of killing my mother and failure to do the same to myself must have channeled to this gun. That's why it's killing its owners. I'm going to cleanse this one, and then maybe, I'll have a chance to get that spiritual blue gun Nuidini wants me to have soon enough."

Radien stared at him with a rather saddened face. He then changed it into a kind smile. "Then let me assist you in finding an answer, Yua."